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There are countless passages that exhort believers about the seriousness of their walk of holiness before God. Scripture strongly affirms that we should flee from sexual immorality (1 Cor. 6:18), flee from idolatry (1 Cor. 10:14), flee love of money (1 Tim. 6:11), flee youthful passions (2 Tim. 2:22), and resist the devil (Jam. 4:7). […]
Last month, in my post about virtue ethics, I questioned whether the notion of rewards that will be distributed at the final judgment was necessary in order to emphasize the importance of Christian obedience. Instead, I suggested that our existence as God’s image bearers entails that we were made to reflect God’s goodness and indeed […]
Christians agree that our growth in godliness is important, but not everyone agrees about why that is true or what is at stake. In recent years, discussions within the Reformed community about the role of our good works in relation to the final judgment have been prominent, some suggesting that our works play a role […]
Reformed theology in recent years has seen a resurgence of interest in covenant theology, which has come with a new wave of books about the biblical covenants. Richard Belcher has just released another contribution to the growing body of literature on covenant theology with The Fulfillment of the Promises of God: An Explanation of Covenant […]
It is usually cliché to open essays with a statement of a universal truth, but it is true that Christ’s death on the cross is at the center of Christianity. Paul described his preaching ministry by focusing on the cross: “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” (1 Corinthians […]
After declaring some hard teachings about God’s sovereignty in salvation, which provoked many of his followers to abandon him, Jesus in John 6 asked his closest disciples if they would also leave. Peter responded, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you […]
Christ instituted the Lord’s Supper as a sacramental meal for his church to celebrate together as a means of grace whereby he feeds his people spiritually. Since Jesus gave this meal to the church and the Scripture urges us to celebrate it, clearly it is something important for us to do. The Westminster Shorter Catechism, […]
Fasting has ordinarily been practiced as giving up food for a fixed time, and has been a fixture of the Christian tradition since its beginnings. One of the earliest Christian documents, the Didache, has several instructions regarding fasting that touch multiple aspects of life, which indicates that fasting’s importance was suffused throughout early piety. Drawing […]
Interpreting Eden: A Guide to Faithfully Reading and Understanding Genesis 1–3 by Vern S. Poythress Crossway, 2019 400 pages (paperback), $32.99 The opening chapters of Genesis have long been grist for the exegetical mill and remain a source of debate even for those within the same tradition. In Interpreting Eden, Vern Poythress has written a […]
It seems that politics are becoming more and more disorientating, especially for Christians. Our outlook on goodness and justice is dismissed as outdated at best and regressive at worst, and we feel increasingly confused about relating our spiritual principles to our civic life. Some have proposed that we abandon society altogether to form our own […]
“Viciously learned” is the only adequate way to begin describing Iain Provan’s massive tome on biblical interpretation, as Provan shows himself incredibly well read, thoughtfully clear, and immensely thorough. Some books are not easily categorized by discipline because they confuse their own aims, but this book is intentionally cross-disciplinary in the best way. Further, many […]
Peter Marshall has written a massive account of how the Reformation took place in England, and it is bound to become a standard introduction to the topic. Containing sweeping vistas, this book is not for the faint of heart, for it certainly does not gloss over the details of how Reformation thinking spread into and […]
